Crushed Coticule Slurry

[s0litarys0ldier]

Enlighten me,

I am a competent coticule honer. I have got a decent collection. I can put an edge on a razor coming from a 1k stone that melts the hair off my face with superior comfort. I don't need to add secondary bevels unless I want to. I want to try this crushed slurry method.

I get the concept you work the slurry on the base hone with the rubbing stone and this in turn "crushes" the slurry and breaks it down to some extent allowing for "superior" edges.

Do I work the slurry stone in the same small spot instead of working the whole hone?

Do I finish the edge on water and then go to crushed slurry to finish or do I set the bevel and sharpen with this crushed slurry?

Let me know.

- Scott

[gssixgun]

I posted the links to the original articles in the HOTD

I just messed with what Alex said and it seems to work, and give a smoother edge try it out and see if it works for you

[Disburden]

From what I understand they are rubbing slurry onto the stone and then using the slurry stone to roll around on the stone. This will break down the binder in between the garnets of the slurry. Coticule garnets do not break down themselves, they are almost as hard a diamond. I am not sure how they are rubbing the slurry stone on the coticule and not releasing new slurry at the same time though...That part confuses me.

Alex also mentioned in one of his posts that he rubs a slurry stone on a dry coticule and then hones on the dry slurry, like CroX on Balsa. he then rubs the slurry stone on the hone against to mash up the slurry more and repeats.

I haven't tried this yet, but I am curious, since I like to play in the slurry.

[KenG]

Alex also mentioned in one of his posts that he rubs a slurry stone on a dry coticule and then hones on the dry slurry, like CroX on Balsa. he then rubs the slurry stone on the hone against to mash up the slurry more and repeats.

I haven't tried this yet, but I am curious, since I like to play in the slurry.

I am also curious about the dry coti slurry and would like to hear more.

[s0litarys0ldier]

It is a shame the original poster is not around anymore who came up with the idea. I would just like to dedicate a thread to figuring out and making some sort of repeatable process. Could one of you guys post the links here?

[KenG]

light colored hones (coticule, SS12k, spyderco UF, carborundum 101 & etc.) when viewed under lighted magnification like my current favorite Carson microbrite plus 60-120x LED lighted reveal an interesting landscape after dry honing.

The lapped 'flat' surface is composed of hills and valleys and the Carson delivers a nice 3D view at this magnification. After dry honing, the hilltops are easily identified by black metal and it is shocking how big the valley spaces are in between. Obviously, the edge rides over the hilltops never touching the valley. Any peak sticking up higher than the others is ready to knock out a chip on an edge leading pass.

So then, wet and dry slurry must fill the valleys for more cutting surface area- just as honers report faster cutting with slurry. Water and oil fill the valley as well, but with cutting speed rate slower proportional to the lubricant refreshing rate. Running water = less or no particles in the valley.

With both wet and dry coti slurry I have been experimenting as follows.
1) after building the slurry, let the first passes (<10) be spine leading to wipe off the excess slurry, ideally leaving it in the valleys. Think spreading icing on a cake. This hopefully minimizes the number of edge chipping slurry boulders with their feet firmly planted in a valley and head sticking up above their neighbors.
2) clean the razor then do your edge leading routine as normal, diluting by dribbling or wiping (dry) in the usual manner.

This technique may be more suitable for dry slurry-that is my current interest. Wet slurry is more challenging, with barely any water at all, just damp, drying out quickly and when refreshing you would have to do the spine leading passes again...

One interesting initial observation - the bevel of a dry slurried razor is shiny polished like from SS12k, not frosted like usual coti. This from only one razor and coti though, so this may not be the case with others.

[DireStraights]

Just tried dry slurry on my very fast pinkish LPB and got easy hht 4 with my super thin hair. Way better than expected, will test shave it today along with an edge from a found in the wild hone that is extremely fine grained.

[Disburden]

Just tried dry slurry on my very fast pinkish LPB and got easy hht 4 with my super thin hair. Way better than expected, will test shave it today along with an edge from a found in the wild hone that is extremely fine grained.

And you are doing this as a finishing technique correct?

[DireStraights]

And you are doing this as a finishing technique correct?

Yes. I took an already shave ready blade and did quite a few laps. Like 40 or more even. Towards the end I brushed some of the dust off and did a few spine leading strokes. I figure if I get a good shave off this really fast coti any of mine should work.

It left a nice polished bevel and the hht results are keen for this stone, so expecting a nice shave this afternoon.

[Disburden]

Thanks.

Lets see how the shave is. Can you post the result?

Yes. I took an already shave ready blade and did quite a few laps. Like 40 or more even. Towards the end I brushed some of the dust off and did a few spine leading strokes. I figure if I get a good shave off this really fast coti any of mine should work.

It left a nice polished bevel and the hht results are keen for this stone, so expecting a nice shave this afternoon.